Man saves family from fire after smelling smoke in home

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — Investigators said a man saved his family from a fire Wednesday morning that destroyed their home in Boiling Springs.

Leon Boykins was stunned by the damage from the fire.
 
"I just thank the Lord I'm out of there.  It could have been worse," he said.
 
Fire investigators said Boykins, his wife, their two children, and a man renting a room could have been killed if they had slept just a few minutes more.
 
The fire was so intense firefighters used foam to keep it from rekindling.
 
"He is a good God, because most people get burned up," Boykins said.
 
The smell of smoke woke Boykins at about 5 a.m. Wednesday.
 
He and his wife said that is a common smell in their home because they have a wood stove but Boykins still got up to check it out.
 
He said he stepped around the corner to look into the kitchen and what he saw scared him.

"Opened the door on the other side and saw smoke," Boykins said.
     
He said it was thick and dark.
     
He and his wife rushed to wake their 8- and 18-year-old sons.
     
The smoke detectors had just come on when they got to Lewis Huskey's room.
 
"(They were) beating on my door telling me to get up and get out," Huskey said.
 
They all rushed outside.
 
"When I got outside there were a bunch of flames coming through the window and the door to the kitchen," Lewis said.
       
Investigators said the fire didn't start with the wood stove.
       
There was a space heater in the kitchen, but they are not sure yet if that caused the fire.

WSOC